For all of my predictions of how awful this year’s hostless Oscars would be, I actually didn’t mind it… for the most part. It wasn’t a total catastrophe, the awards had an okay pace in the first few hours, and the biggest miss was how they opened the show, with the Queen tribute. I’ve actually come around to the idea that maybe going hostless is…fine?? Here we are, I never thought I’d admit that. One thing I’ll give this year’s Oscars: they weren’t BORING. The shocks at the end of the night were like a jolt of g–damn adrenaline. Here are some highlights and lowlights, in no particular order:
The Queen Opening. Adam Lambert sang with the original members of Queen. They performed “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions.” I mean, it worked in the room and people seemed to enjoy it live. But holy lord, that was a terrible way to open the OSCARS. Then they followed it up with a dumb montage.
The Weird Presenters. I mean, it was something new. I wasn’t expecting to see Tom Morello present the clip for Vice. I knew Serena Williams was going to present the clips for A Star Is Born, but it still left me wondering how and why that happened, because the connection is not… obvious. Some presenters were more traditional, like Chris Evans & Jennifer Lopez. I was not happy that John Lewis, one of the last living Civil Rights icons, was called in to present the Best Picture clip for Green Book. A harbinger of things to come.
Ruth E. Carter’s historic win. Carter won Best Costume Design for creating an entire world of African royalty through costume in Black Panther. She is the first African-American woman to win in this category in the history of the Oscars. She was prepared, and she gave an excellent shout-out to Spike Lee too.
Jennifer Hudson’s screams into the abyss. Why did she scream-sing that song from RBG? And why did Emilia Clarke present it? I asked this on Twitter: did someone confuse Emilia with Felicity Jones, who played RBG?
Bohemian Rhapsody’s wins. I was completely over it. All of those sound awards could have gone during the commercial breaks as far as I’m concerned. Best Film Editing? Nope. Best Actor? Gross.
Glenn Close lost. My God, that was one of the biggest shocks I’ve ever seen at the Oscars. Olivia Colman looked like she had been jolted out of the blue. People thought Glenn was a sure thing. Glenn thought she was sure thing. I saw The Favourite and loved it, but I didn’t think Olivia had a snowball’s chance. Turns out, she did. And her speech was utterly charming.
The “Shallow” performance. We’ll talk about this more in the Gaga-fashion post, but I thought the performance was one of the best parts of the Oscars. It was thoughtful, artsy, interesting and well-produced. Gaga and Bradley Cooper had more chemistry in that live performance than they had in the entire movie though. I’m not even joking. And hey, now Lady Gaga is an Oscar winner for Best Song!
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper perform Shallow at the #Oscars pic.twitter.com/smGbGzVKDO
— Lady Gaga Now 👾 (@LadyGagaNowNet) February 25, 2019
Chris Evans helping Regina King. She won so early, and I don’t think she had situated her dress situation yet, so Chris Evans – who was seated one seat over from Regina – jumped up to help her up the steps. So chivalrous!!
Reminder: We are not worthy of @ChrisEvans. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/G1AQ3sdUzC
— Page Six (@PageSix) February 25, 2019
Keegan Michael Key’s entrance. It was perfect!
Floating into work after a long lunch break like https://t.co/PjIRQbnhxp #Oscars pic.twitter.com/aFV2dzdYyq
— Variety (@Variety) February 25, 2019
A little Wayne’s World for the Gen Xers. They introduced the Bohemian Rhapsody clips.
Wayne and Garth make a cameo on the #oscars stage to introduce #BohemianRhapsody https://t.co/ufMFarwc3p pic.twitter.com/cxCIslR6OB
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 25, 2019
Barbra Streisand was amazing. I loved that she presented the BlacKkKlansman clip.
Lady Gaga is finally an Oscar winner. Okay, so we can stop worrying about that.
Spike Lee won for Best Adapted Screenplay. This is his first Oscar for screenplay!! He previously got an honorary Oscar and one for documentary.
My final thought: I truly didn’t believe Green Book had a chance of winning Best Picture. They refused to nominate Peter Farrelly for director, and I just believed people had actually seen the g–damn movie at this point and realized that it was some terrible, poorly written white savior bullsh-t. They gave it Best Picture. It was like the Academy voters couldn’t help but show their asses once again: Green Book was the out of touch choice for white people. It was the film where a racist clown got to be the hero. They chose that over Spike Lee’s best film in a decade. They chose it over Roma, they chose it over the brilliant weirdness that is The Favourite. I can’t.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
I preferred this opening…much more than the Justin Timberlake one a few years back/ AT least we know all the words to these songs.
I thought the pace was faster and I was happy with some of the winners. Green Book was a WTF ending to an otherwise okay show.
I loved it, and it seemed the audience did, too. People were dancing and singing. It was better than a monologue/song/dance routine.
I liked the hostless show too. Though that opening was awkward as hell. Reminded me of a middle school pep rally where the teachers made all the students stand up and pretend to have fun.
I think more of the old traditional voters went solely for Green Book, while the others split their votes between Black Panther, BlackKklansman, and Roma, and that’s why Green Book won.
I agree. Split votes caused this terrible terrible win
I hadn’t thought of that, you’re probably right. It was a shock.
Well that would be in keeping with the cluster@#$% of the last few years.
Agree re split vote theory.
The aisle with Queen Latifah and Javier Bardem looks like a fun one to sit in.
Update: Jordan Peele’s polite headbop to Queen is delightful and perfectly encapsulates the mess of this opening.
Spike Lee has an oscar. I’m satisfied. I was also glad to see Regina win hers- I have admired her work since I first saw her in Ray where she was unforgettable.
Just read Spike was pissed when Green Book won and tried to storm out of the theater.
Ugh, he’s a 60-year-old toddler. And it’s utterly ridiculous how he hogged the spotlight when BlacKkKlansman won Adapted Screenplay because he barely did any work on that script.
I was SOOO happy when Regina King won! I mean, the category was jam packed full of talent, so it would have been deserved by whomever won, but I was so happy for her. And Chris Evans helping her… I think he should always have a front row seat at every awards show, just so we can all see an example of a kind, decent person as a palate cleanser from the assholes we all see every day.
But what I really need to know… Did Richard Grant meet Babs??? I need this to happen!
Same!! Chris Evans was so polite and Regina FINALLY gets her due!
I’m furious on her behalf at the blonde twig in the row behind her who isn’t even trying to clap.
Also, REG did get to meet Babs! He has an adorable picture on his twitter, he’s just SO HAPPY and I love him for it
Yup. Love Regina. Love Chris helping her.
Sidenote – Chris helping Regina reminded me of that time he helped Betty White to the stage.
I bet a lot of people didn’t know Regina started out as a child actor! I noticed her since she was on that sitcom 227 (yes with Jackee!). Good to see some kids come out of the process well adjusted and successful!
I know celebitchy is not a big stan of Chris Evans and I can own him as my problematic fav but can we all agree that in the last two years he’s gone from sometimes-red-carpet-drunken, says-frat-boy-misogynist-bullshit-and-has-to-apologize, maybe-lay-off-the-partying-cut-the-shit-out, into a guy who needs no excuse not to call 45 on his bullshit in an eloquent, articulate, and consistent way daily, and is trying to learn how to be a good ally by retweeting tweets from minorities with encouragements rather than just trying to chime in in spaces he has no business commenting in?
I agree. I was not a fan in the past, but he seems like a decent guy.
I think some white sumpremicts stanning him as Cap America freaked him out and he had made a huge and public effort to stand up against hate and align himself with marginalized populations as an advocate. I’m happy to see him embrace this message and use his platform for good. We all start somewhere and he is moving in the right direction!
Oh yeah, definitely. He’s the best Chris now.
I concur. I definitely stan and he’s easily the best Chris.
All he did was assist her walk up the stairs. Y’all are acting like he saved someone’s life. It’s basic af politeness and nothing extraordinary.
Catching up on some clips this morning (watch live? HAHAHAHAHAHA!) and it really was some nice moments mixed in with some bizarre to downright horrific choices (e.g. everything Bohemian “if we don’t mention our alleged child rapist director it’s fine” Rhapsody).
My favorite whiplash so far came from two clips I watched in a row:
Diego Luna and José Andrés present Roma: Perfect, elegant, sweet, (and damn, Diego looked great!!). Loved it.
And now to present Green Book, Congreeman John Lewis and Amandla Stenberg!: ….What the F**K??!
I will just co-sign the whole post. Nothing spectacular nothing new just another award season over.
Some of the presenter choices were odd and it made me sad that John Lewis was there for Green Book but overall I was enjoying it until the best pic award. I’m still furious they gave it to Green Book. So wrong. Spike was right to be pissed!
I wasn’t happy about that either. I can’t figure out why he would agree to present that.
I thought the hostless format worked really well – it didn’t make the show any shorter, but it flowed a bit better. Some of the writing was still bad (Poor Awkwafina and John Mulaney-their bit was cringeworthy) and I’m still not sure what the point of having Tom Morello and Serena Williams be presenters was, bit overall I liked it.
Green Book just proves once again that Hollywood loves nothing more than a white savior movie, even (or maybe especially) when it is written by white guys, even (or maybe especially) if they include a dick flasher and a virulent anti-Muslim hack. PS. After this bullshit win, Imma need all the rightwingers to dial back the whining (looking at you, Tim Allen) about how hard it is to be a Republican in the industry. But they had two black people, (including a legendary congressman who actually lived through the period the movie is set in),present the award, so I’m sure the powers that be are patting themselves on the back this morning. At first I thought John Lewis was just a little uncomfortable on stage, but I wonder if he knew the fuckery that was coming and this was the only way he could express his rage.
On a brighter note, Chris Evans is Cap in real life, it was a historic night for POC in many other categories, Danai Gurira and James MacAvoy are now a couple in my mind, Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson and their giggling made them the best presenters of the night and Regina King was a flawless queen who hasn’t aged a day in like, 20 years.
It did make the show shorter, though. I live on the east coast, and it usually runs until midnight. I think the faster pace was an improvement.
Yeah, it was a good 40 minute shorter. And I liked the pace and almost all of the winners… except Green Book. There were far more deserving films nominated.
Rami Malek took a terrible script & turned Bohemian Rhapsody into a hit. He carried that movie. That’s what a powerful performance does. He deserved the Oscar. Hopefully he will make better choices in the future now that he has an Oscar.
He won an Oscar, BAFTA, SAG, and Golden Globe for the role, so yes, he did well. He beat Bale and Cooper on his first nomination.
his performance was an SNL skit, the movie was a hit because of the music.
I agree with you Id. To me he was a caricature.
yeah, still bummed we will never see Sacha Baron Cohen’s vision. (damn you, Brian May et al)
spot on.
Absolutely. He was brilliant in that role.
@PURPLEHAZEFOREVER
ITA with everything you said!
I watched BR w my middle schooler as Queen was the sound track to my own jr high days. I so appreciated Rami’s soulful take on FM, as both his genius & conflict was endearing. I believe it lent compassion & a take on our tinder cultures loneliness for long term relationships. Such a valuable film!
Am really not sure to what to make of this year’s Oscars. No host, so therefore no comic theme linking the proceedings together obviously is a good or bad thing depending on the calibre of the host. But shoot me down in flames but I think my lack of interest in recent Oscars has to do with the quality of the films. Yes, most of this years nominees, like recent years, are well written, well crafted and well acted movies. But most are good rather than memorable, significant movies. When i look at the writing talent exploring a range of subjects and emotions outside the conventional box, imo television is dwarfing Hollywood’s film industry in terms of originality, creativity and pushing the boundaries. Just to cite Pose, Glow, Killing Eve, Mindhunter, Fargo, the Americans, True Detective as a few examples.
I so agree about tv these days just being a richer better experience. Golden age of television. Most movies-shrug.
– loved the opening
Love Queen and Adam Lambert
– loved the Oscar for best COstume Design,
well earned, the Wakanda Clothes were gorgeous.
– did not care for Bette Middler
– did not care for JHud, seems she is shouting every Song……Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, Fantasia all would have been way more nuanced Singers. IMHO.
– Gaga finally has her damn Oscar, now she can stop being so f###ing thirsty.
– Gaga sung better here than at the Grammy’s, Cooper was ok.
-about BR winning 4out5, it was a family friendly Movie about a famous Rock Icon.
Some moan that Freddie was too tame, some found the Story nor family friendly enough but the Majority enjoyed it, liked to see a Movie about one of the biggest, most famous Bands of the Rock World and nearly everybody knows a couple of the Songs.
Why should they not take a lot of the Golden Boys with them?
This Movie made money,too.
Not everyone had to love it but then that is the same for every Movie, right?
About the BIG Elephant in the Room, that nobody was talking about, Bryan Singer, this is Hollywood, give it a couple of other People being assholes and molesters in an even more deranged way and Bryan is of the Hook.
Couple of Years later he will make High demand Movies again, lots of young People will sell their Soul for a way in and only a few couple of people will care.
I liked the host-less format a LOT. It was shocking how much time it saved initially. But then I was annoyed when it was 11:15 or 1130 and they still hadnt announced Best Picture (I cant remember what time it was.) Like I felt like they got through so many awards in the first hour and then thought, “oh crap, we better slow down, this show cant be less than 3.5 hours long!!”
Also, I dont really like Shallow, so I was meh on the performance (Although I love Gaga’s voice). But I rolled my eyes at how they did the song (without announcing it, and those two just walking up to the stage from their seats) because it just seemed to scream “and yes, here are the winners!”
I enjoyed this Oscar’s.
I don’t think most of voters chose Green book. I think their votes were split among 3 other movies and Green book was the fourth contender in line.
I knew Roma wasn’t going to win when they won Best foreign film. I did not like The favourite at all.
I truly enjoyed a hostless Oscars, but I never really cared about it being without a host to begin with. They picked some really charming presenters — I loved Tina, Amy, Maya together; Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson were lovely; and Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson’s cute chemistry made me more excited for Captain Marvel.
Highlights for me were definitely Spike Lee and Olivia Colman winning, because they were such joyful moments (and I was happily surprised Olivia beat out Glenn Close — Olivia TOTALLY deserved it!). Olivia is such a sweet, down-to-earth woman.
The only real miss of the night for me was Best Picture (and Best Actor, but we knew that would happen — that showmance he has going on with his costar is cringey). I was shocked. It seems the Academy is more interested in faux progressive stories than real ones.
1. I wish they’d given John Mulaney a better bit.
2. I really don’t think they needed to open with the Queen medley, it was so awkward.
3. I was surprised by the Best Picture win, but I think it was a split vote that caused it because there wasn’t a super clear frontrunner. I was also kind of surprised by Olivia Colman’s win, but then again I’m not sure why because she was considered the frontrunner until Glenn Close won a couple, and then all of a sudden everyone was convinced it was Glenn’s. My guess is it’s just that more voters saw The Favourite.
4. Jennifer Hudson’s performance was pitchy for me, dawg. I honestly didn’t really like any of the performances, although Bette Midler looked fantastic.
5. I was not really a fan of all of the puffy hot pink dresses, personally.
Overall, I thought the show went quick (it’s the first one I haven’t been falling asleep towards the end), and I did like not having a host, although I missed having a monologue. Really disappointed by Green Book, and my ballot was a mess, but other than that it was pretty good.
With the Best Picture, they dont choose a winner…they rank the films. So its possible that a film like Roma may have had more 1 picks….but also more 8 picks…and averages out to the middle therefore letting something like Green Book sneak in.
imagine replacing freddie mercury with… adam lambert. i don’t like brian may and roger taylor anymore.
It is not replacing.
It is not called Queen but Queen AND Adam Lambert.
You noticed the AND?
If they would ‘ replace’ Freddie, it would be called Queen without any AND.
This combination is not replacing a great, lively singer but is paying homage to this singer with another great lively singer.
No one can replace Freddie, but I do like to hear those songs. Still Adam kind of made me a bit sad. He’s good, but it’s sort of bad Karaoke to me. I think they should try the Panic at the Disco guy sometime.
Adam Lambert has been touring with Queen for like 8 years now. And before him, Queen toured with Paul Rogers for like 5 years. What’s with the sudden outrage?
exactly.
i know about al touring with them, just never witnessed the end result until last night and… yikes. the adam lambert thing is not the main thing that irks about these two btw, it’s the way the movie was handled – especially the bryan singer association.
Yup – I mean, I didnt love the opening, but it wasnt because of Adam Lambert. and I’ll give my husband his due; it took him maybe two episodes of American Idol (when Adam was on it ) to be like, “that guy should be the new lead singer for Queen.” So he has felt very superior for several years now, haha.
what with the super bowl appearance and last night’s ??? presentation, i can’t confidently say that john lewis is all there anymore. some might be taking advantage of him in this advanced stage of his life.
Yeah the presenter choices for the BP nominees were weird. Some of it made sense like Mike Meyers for Bohemian Rhapsody. And Queen Latifah kind of made sense for a movie about a Queen…but they had Barbra Streisand present for Green Book and it was like….”Why didnt she do A Star is Born considering her connection to that movie’s history”?
Overall, I quite liked a hostless Oscars. It felt like the telecast was actually going quickly. Normally, I dont like Melissa McCarthy’s humor but I actually really liked her presenting job for Best Costumes.
Streisand did Blackklansman, which ended up kind of working IMO. I said somewhere else that I think it went like this:
Academy (phone rings): Ms. Streisand? Would you please please please consider coming to the award ceremony this year to present a Best Picture nominee?
Streisand: OF COURSE. I’ll do Blackkklansman!!!
Academy: errr……uhhhh…….we were thinking A Star is Born?
Streisand: I just love Spike Lee! I’m so excited you asked me to do this!
Academy…………so thats that.
@becks1 – that’s totally how it went down and I love it the way babs and spike both love hats lol!
Barbara Streisand presenting Blackkklansman was pure shade towards the 4th version of ASIB and I was totally there for it. Plus she seemed like she had actually enjoyed the movie.
The hostless show was better than I expected it to be and dare, I say, something they should do from now on. Things felt so much smoother and we didn’t have to put up with cringey bits that clearly nobody wanted to participate in.
I was so bummed for Glenn Close. She wore that gold gown thinking she’d win. I’m also bummed for Adam Driver and Spike Lee. BlacKKKlansmen was such a good movie and so poignant. The Academy voters mega failed with so many categories this year.
I can’t believe that Glenn Close lost. I would love to see what the actual vote was. I feel like members sometime vote strategically. The Favourite didn’t get as many votes in other categories as expected, so the voters decided to chose Olivia Coleman for Best Actress. Maybe not. I’m still kind of in shock.
I guess I need to watch Green Book, I didn’t because everyone was saying it wasn’t very good…I tried to watch Roma and just could not get through it. I loved BR, ASIB, BlaKKKlansmen and I haven’t watched The Favourite but I will and I know I’ll love it. I’m shocked by this win after all the negative things I heard about it.
Regina King made me cry, she is so versatile, I still remember her as that little girl in 227!
I didn’t watch Green Book either because I heard it wasn’t great and most people didn’t think it would win anything. -_-
I wanted to watch The Favourite and Vice, but haven’t yet. I’m pretty sure I’ll like the Favourite and be disappointed by Vice. I thought ASIB, BlacKkKlansmen, and BR were all decent but had some flaws. I also couldn’t get through Roma! I watched thirty minutes and felt like nothing was happening, except that I saw a naked guy do some martial arts moves with a shower rod. Supposedly it takes awhile to build, but I don’t think it’s my type of movie anyway.
Vice is different, and I’m not really sure how I would describe it, kind of satirical and thought provoking. You are probably going to either hate or love it. I studied film and I kind of liked it. Christian Bale’s performance to me was better than Rami Malek, but Rami’s was good too, so I didn’t really mind Rami’s win too much. Green Book I actually liked. It’s less about the actual Green Book and more about the concept of when you get to know someone personally your prejudices seem to disappear. Spike’s right is a bit of a reverse Driving Miss Daisy. However, it does have that white savior thing going on too, although it’s not the main point, but it also has Mahershala Ali who is amazing. Honestly, he is so talented and the first black actor after Denzel Washington to win 2 Oscars, but I feel he may be better than Denzel who is great. Mahershala just is different in almost every role. Green book is good, but not ground breaking. It probably deserved to be nominated, just not win. Honestly, if you were going for best picture and groundbreaking of the ones nominated it was Black Panther, but It had way too many academy strikes against it. First it was too commercial, second primarily a black cast and third a super hero movie, but still it was easily the easiest and most enjoyable to watch, plus groundbreaking socially. Cuaron deserved to win for cinematography as Roma is a beautiful picture in images, but directing it is just a bit slow. Spike should have won for directing. Spike’s directing is unique in its look, and he deserves to be recognized for it.
noway – thanks for your commentary, I like hearing from someone who knows a little something about movies. I’m sure Black Panther is great, I’m just not into action/adventure/super hero movies, that is the only genre that I just cannot. I felt so dumb that I couldn’t get into Roma, but I just couldn’t hang….heck I watched Boyhood a couple of years ago and that was loooongggg, but it held my interest. Roma just did not. I might try again though. I will be watching Green Book for sure now though.
To add to the racist overtones of everything involved with Green Book, Peter Farrelly actually shouted out Shinola and said they “saved Detroit”, which couldn’t be further from the truth, and even Shinola had to immediately come out and say that. Tone deaf beyond tone deaf. Shinola did market research and chose Detroit as their branding city as a result. But these guys don’t care about that.
I stand by my previous comments that A Star is Born as a really good movie IMO. I thought Bradley & Gaga had great chemistry in the move. I loved their performance of the song last night too.
I’m sorry but Green Book aka Driving Miss Daisy Part II, should not have won. I especially like the comment someone made about the Production Team being on stage, “It wasn’t the Green Book, it was the White Pages”.
I also disagree with Rami Malek winning. That is all.
I kind of like hostless Oscars, but they just need to figure out how to do the opening and ending a bit better. It seemed like they were waiting for something and just seemed a bit awkward. Cutting time off the show was a good thing for sure. I’ve said my peace about some of the winners, but Glenn Close. I do feel bad for her. Hopefully she had a drink with Spike Lee. They should make a movie together. I’d love to see what would happen with them, plus seems like Barbra Streisand loves him, he should put her in that film. I mean I know Spike generally doesn’t do films with women leads and certainly not white women, but wouldn’t it be interesting if he did something a bit different. Although, if he won an Oscar for that kind of film I think I might just puke, but be happy for him at the same time.
I liked the hostless show in terms of flow. They just seemed to be getting on with it without silly stunts that could just be for the live audience in the commercial breaks. Though I missed some of the mocking the host usually gets in. It’s always good to have a gentle laugh at their expense.
The arts are very subjective so I’m never surprised at the odd upset but Best Actress and Best Picture were out of left field. Not because Colman wasn’t deserving but it seemed a lock for Close. I didn’t hear any serious mention of Green Book for BP in the lead up. For all the changes and the diversity starting to happen in the Academy, the predominant voices of the older, white, male will reign for another few years yet.
I’m sad that “All the Stars” from Black Panther didn’t get the Oscar and the song was given barely any mention. You could hear it for 2 seconds during a clip of the movie. Shame, cuz it’s a great song. Not sure why Kendrick and SZA didn’t come on to do it or why the Academy didn’t show the video instead. I’m kind of over Shallow but All the Stars is in heavy rotation on my phone. I love it.
I want Adam Lambert’s jacket!!!
Wasn’t surprised at Olivia Coleman’s win. I’m glad she won it.
Still don’t get Emma Stone’s nomination.
Wish Spike Lee had gotten Best Director.
Still think Black Panther deserved it’s nom.
YES! Into The Spider-Verse won it’s Oscar.
And yay for Regina King’s win!
It is better hostless, wonder how Kevin Hart feels?
Also, can Adam Lambert disappear for a bit now?